Special Message

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Acting Secretary of State, accompanied by reports from the diplomatic and consular officers, upon the feasibility of regular co-operation between the two branches of our foreign service for the better promotion of American industry and trade. Basing his conclusions upon the views expressed in these reports, the Acting Secretary recommends that provision be made for six special agents, with the diplomatic rank and title of commercial attache, to be sent abroad to make a practical trial of the proposed plan; to report to the Department of State conditions existing in different countries which might suggest modifications or changes in the general scheme; to prepare, for the Department of Commerce and Labor, reports upon commerce and manufactures, or upon kindred topics, of a more exhaustive and comprehensive character than is ordinarily obtainable at present; and to visit consulates, examine their workings, and suggest such changes, either to the consular officers or to the Department of State, as would tend to the general improvement and strengthening of the service.

It is proposed that these agents shall be chosen primarily for their expert knowledge, but shall be not merely specialists, except for particular investigation that might, from time to time, be required, but practical men of affairs, with the experience best suited to fit them for their executive duties. It is suggested that the consular service might supply the best type of agents desired, and that, for this reason, and also because of the incentive to merit which would thus be provided, appointments should be made preferably from among those consular officers who have demonstrated their special fitness and capacity.

It will, in my opinion, be found upon examination that, while the measure proposed is a modest and more or less tentative one, involving comparatively slight expense, it promises important and far-reaching consequences in the judicious strengthening of our whole foreign service in the interest of trade, and the gradual development of capacities in it but imperfectly available as yet to make it fully adequate to the demands of our productive energy as a nation. Agriculture in the United States has long been dependent for its prosperity upon the demand from abroad for its surplus product; and of late years our manufacturing industries have found that they were outstripping the capacity of even our enormous home market, and are now looking more and more to foreign consumption for relief from accumulating stocks. According to an estimate of the Department of Commerce and Labor our exports of manufactures in the calendar year 1904 "will not only exceed the highest figures of any earlier year, but may probably pass the $500,000,000 line, as against 434 millions in the high-record year, the fiscal year 1900, 151 millions in 1890, 103 millions in 1880, 68 millions in 1870, and 40 millions in 1860." The magnitude and steady growth of this export movement from our workshops and factories are such as to suggest the grave importance of providing it with all the official apparatus necessary to its full and free development.

It is generally admitted that in recent years the consular service whatever may be its defects of system, has developed a commercial utility which has been of great practical value. It would be most regrettable, however, if this improvement, which has been brought about by the zeal and energy of individual consuls rather than by the efforts of the service as a whole, and also, to a large extent, by the special direction of the Department of State, should be accepted as fully satisfying even present requirements, not to speak of the prospective demands of a rapidly expanding commerce. For this reason I cordially commend to the consideration of Congress the recommendations of the Acting Secretary of State, looking to the gradual systematizing and equipment of the whole foreign service, by simple and inexpensive means, as an auxiliary, responsive at all points, to what may reasonably be expected of it by the great industrial and commercial interests which are so deeply concerned in enlarging their share of the world's trade.

In view of the interest and importance of the subject to the public, and especially to the business community, I also suggest that authority be given for the printing of a special edition of 5,000 copies of the Acting Secretary's letter, together with the appended reports from diplomatic and consular officers, of which 2,000 copies shall be for distribution by the Department of State.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.